a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Tripod (The War of the Worlds) From Wikipedia Martian tripod illustration drawn by Henrique Alvim Corréa for a 1906 edition of the novel.Tripods or fighting-machines are a type of fictional three-legged walker from the H. G. Wells' classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by Martians to invade Earth. The Novel The …
Read More “1913 – The Thing (Martian Fighting Machine – Tripod) – H.G. Wells (British)”
Pic of cover of Eagle – 20 Jan 1956 Vol 7 No. 1. Phant Walking tank. Concept working drawings including the “walking tank” [top left]. From Frank Hampson’s “Ideas Book”. Dan Dare – Rogue Planet 1955-7 The above images were taken by David Buckley when we travelled to the British Science Museum to study W. …
Read More “1955 – Phant Walking Tank (Dan Dare) – Frank Hampson (British)”
Text below from Syd Mead's book SENTINEL The four-legged, gyro-balanced, walking cargo vehicle shown on pages 80-81 is from the US Steel Interface portfolio series [published in 1969 – see image below]. The environment is arctic and the mission is to deliver goods and critical supplies to an isolated exploratory colony beyond the DEWline. Like …
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The world's first concept for a powered exoskeleton ? We often forget that even the now bygone era of Steam power and locomotion was new and in its infancy, satirists looked at a future whereby the most absurd objects could be powered and animated. Locomotion – Walking by Steam, Riding by Steam, Flying by …
Read More “1830c – Walking by Steam – Robert Seymour (British)”
Leg detail – motors are modified power drills. From George A. Bekey – Autonomous Robots – From Biological Inspiration to Implementation and Control (2005) The first autonomous quadruped robot in the United States was constructed in the 1960's at the University of Southern California; it was dubbed the Phony Pony [ McGhee's own documents also …